What study strategy or learning method has had the greatest impact on your academic success, and why? by Wes

What study strategy or learning method has had the greatest impact on your academic success, and why? by Wes - September 2026 Scholarship Essay

I was never particularly good at studying. As a child, I was considered advanced for my age and was frequently placed in gifted and talented programs. My parents also consistently encouraged me to pursue academic success. Their support had a profound positive impact on my education, helping me develop into a strong student and allowing me to earn college-level credits through courses such as AP Calculus, AP U.S. History, AP U.S. Government, AP Research, AP Language and Composition, and AP World History. However, being academically ahead of my classmates also created an unexpected challenge: I never learned how to study. From kindergarten through eighth grade, I was usually ahead of the curriculum. Because the material came naturally to me, I rarely had to develop the habits necessary to overcome academic difficulty. I could succeed without spending much time reviewing, practicing, or figuring out how I learned best. That changed when I entered high school and encountered more rigorous courses, heavier workloads, and material that genuinely challenged me. At first, I struggled to adapt. I tried tutoring, but the available programs, such as Mathnasium and Kumon, were not designed for the level of coursework I was taking. I also tried in-school tutoring, but because I was enrolled in the highest-level classes available, my potential tutors were often classmates facing the same challenges. I experimented with watching instructional videos, taking more detailed notes, and creating flashcards, but none of these strategies significantly improved my understanding. Eventually, I realized that the problem was not that I was incapable of learning; I simply had not discovered how I learned best. I am a practice-oriented learner. Rather than spending hours watching someone explain a difficult concept, I learn by attempting it myself, making mistakes, correcting them, and trying again. Resources such as Khan Academy became especially valuable because they allowed me to repeatedly practice problems while immediately identifying where I went wrong. Whether I am solving a calculus equation, analyzing a historical question, or working through a grammar problem, repetition allows me to turn mistakes into understanding. Learning how I learn has become one of my most important academic discoveries. I no longer view struggling with a subject as evidence that I cannot understand it. Instead, I see difficulty as an invitation to practice, adapt, and improve. My greatest academic strength is not that I always know the answer—it is that I have learned how to keep working until I do.